SYCAMORE FRESHMAN TOWERS OVER INDIANS

Indiana State freshman guard Kourtney Mennen had the shooting touch of her school's most famous graduate Friday night.

Mennen shot a Larry Bird-like 12 of 15 from the field and made six of nine 3-pointers for 30 points in leading the Lady Sycamores to an easy 77-59 victory over Southeast Missouri State University Friday night in front of 654 fans at the Show Me Center.

"That's as good as a freshman as you will see play on this floor," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen, whose team dropped to 2-7 on the season. "And she does that every night, not just against us.

"They're just a good club. They have some big kids and two really quick guards. They push the ball and make you get back on defense and they can shoot the three. We were outplayed from almost every position."

The Otahks never led in the game, but stayed within striking distance until 15:00 to go in the second half. At that point, Southeast trailed 45-37.

Then Mennen, like Bird so often did to opponents, coolly put the Otahks out of their misery.

Mennen scored 10 of the Sycamores' next 12 points and Indiana State (3-2), which also got 12 points from guard April Kirby, soon led by 21.

"She can fill it up," said Indiana State coach Cheryl Reeve. "Her percentage when she gets open is unbelievable. She's a natural born shooter. She has good footwork and comes off screens well and she is a confident shooter.

"When we recruited her, we knew she could help us right away, but we wouldn't put the pressure on her to become our leading scorer. All the upper classmen have confidence in her and trust her that she'll make the shots."

Indiana State's defense was just as impressive as Mennen's offensive display.

Southeast couldn't find open looks and had to scrap for every basket.

"Defensively, they were so quick," said Arnzen of the team that took defending NCAA champion and 18th-ranked Purdue to the wire last week. "They literally took us out of our offense."

"That was the gameplan," Reeve said. "We knew that 55 percent of their offense was from 3-point shooting and we didn't want to give (Paula) Corder-King any looks. That was really the key to the game. We didn't want them to get into a rhythm."

The strategy worked as Corder-King got off just five 3-pointers, making three of them. She ended up with 13 points. Pam Iversen scored a team-high 14 points. Moneik Campbell scored 11 points, with 10 of them coming in a 3-minute span late in the second half.

As a team, Southeast made four of 10 3-pointers. The Otahks shot 43 percent from the field.

The Sycamores, meanwhile shot a blistering 56 percent from the field (16-for-29) and 56 percent from behind the arc (10-for-18).

Southeast trailed 39-29 at halftime.

The Otahks will not play again this millennium, returning to action Jan. 3 of 2000.

Arnzen hopes a break and new year will give his team a chance to regroup.

"People ask what the problem is and why we're 2-7," Arnzen said. "But we play quality opponents every night and we've played some close games. We need to get through finals, take a break then be ready to go against Arkansas-Little Rock. We need to get this thing going in the right direction."

Four of Southeast's seven losses have been by five points or less.